UW Law School project examines the role of law in developing economies

A University of Wisconsin Law School project is examining the role of law in developing Latin American economies, where experts say a paradigm shift may be underway.
Law and the New Developmental State takes the university’s service mission beyond Wisconsin borders—not the first time that the Wisconsin Idea, the belief that the university exists to serve the public, has gone global.

According to Professor David Trubek, who directs the LANDS project, “The Law School and this campus have a 50-year tradition of service in Latin America, so LANDS continues our commitment to promoting progressive development in the region through socio-legal studies and empirical research.”

In Phase I of the project, LANDS focused on Brazil for its innovative development strategy, in which government supports private sector growth without attempting to control it, and public-private collaborations are emphasized in many areas.

It’s a strategy that seems to be paying off for Brazilians. “In fact,” Trubek says, “Brazil is the only major country in the last decade that has seen a reduction in income inequality.“

Along with economic reforms come new policies and a demand for legal expertise. The LANDS project identified new functions for law and suggested new roles for lawyers in the developmental process. “LANDS can help Brazilian practitioners and educators adapt to the new needs for lawyering, while showing American lawyers the conditions they will encounter when they work with Brazil and similar countries,” Trubek says.

The first phase of the project enlisted Latin American scholars, who completed case studies on development in Brazil, as compared with the economies and laws of Colombia and Mexico. In its second phase, Trubek says the project will examine the relationship between law and new developmental strategies worldwide with the goal of stimulating the field of law and development in emerging economies.